Polar magnetic resonance imaging and applications thereof in cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

ABSTRACT

A method for tagged magnetic resonance imaging is disclosed. The method includes steps of tagging an object with polar tagging patterns; acquiring data in a spatial frequency domain of the tagged object with a polar sampling pattern; and reconstructing an image of the object through a polar Fourier transform of the data acquired in the step of acquiring data.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/081,318, filed on Nov. 18, 2014, andentitled “Fast and Accurate Polar Tagging of MRI Imaging for Assessmentof Cardiac Function with Reduced Data Acquisition,” which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

SPONSORSHIP STATEMENT

This application has been sponsored by the Iranian NanotechnologyInitiative Council, which does not have any rights in this application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application generally relates to magnetic resonance imaging,more particularly, to a method for fully polar magnetic resonanceimaging and applications thereof in cardiac magnetic resonance imagingand tagged magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (hereinafter “MRI”) is a fascinatingtechnique, which allows for a non-invasive assessment of the anatomy andfunction of the heart, without exposure to ionizing radiation. MRIoffers not only high spatial resolution, but also an excellentsoft-tissue contrast. MRI is recognized as the leading modality fordiagnostic imaging of numerous common diseases. The outstandingproperties of the MRI technique are, however, countered by a number oflimitations, including but not limited to the time-consuming dataacquisition, which results in lengthy examinations compared to otherimaging techniques.

Tagging the object to be scanned in MRI is a useful method for theassessment and quantification of the deformations of that object. Forexample, a human heart (myocardium) can be tagged before cardiacmagnetic resonance imaging. Myocardial tagging technique has shown to bea useful magnetic resonance modality for the assessment andquantification of local myocardial function in a healthy and in adiseased state of the heart. The act of tagging produces a variablebrightness pattern in subsequent images and the deformation of thatpattern over time clearly indicates tissue motion.

Tagging through the use of tag-lines is an important tool in thedetermination of strain in an object of interest, which lacks prominentfeatures, for example, a human heart. The structure and motion of anobject, such as the heart (left ventricle), especially in the oftenclinically used short axis view, adapts best to the polar coordinatesystem. It is, therefore, advantageous if the tagging patterns also fitthe polar coordinates to facilitate the analysis and also provide a moreintuitive description of the myocardial deformation.

Since one of the most concerning issues in the strain imaging is thescan time, especially in the evaluation of the cardiac function understress test, there is a need in the art for a faster method forreconstruction of polar MRI data.

SUMMARY

The following brief summary is not intended to include all features andaspects of the present application, nor does it imply that theapplication must include all features and aspects discussed in thissummary.

In one general aspect, the instant application describes a method fortagged magnetic resonance imaging. The method is carried out byfollowing steps: first, an object, which is intended to be scanned istagged with a polar tagging pattern; second, data in a spatial frequencydomain of the tagged object is acquired with a polar sampling pattern;and finally, an image of the object is reconstructed through a polarFourier transform of the data acquired in the step of acquiring data.

In another general aspect of the present application, a method formagnetic resonance imaging is described. The method is carried out byfollowing steps: first, data in a spatial frequency domain of an objectis acquired with a polar sampling pattern; and then, an image of theobject is reconstructed through a polar Fourier transform of the dataacquired in the step of acquiring data.

The above general aspects may include one or more of the followingfeatures. A radial tagging pattern or a circular tagging pattern may beused for tagging the object. A radial sampling pattern or a circularsampling pattern can be used for acquiring the data in the spatialfrequency domain of the object.

In one implementation, the image of the object can be reconstructedthrough a polar Fourier transform method which is carried out byfollowing steps: first, a Fourier transform is performed on the dataacquired in the step of acquiring data, in the azimuth direction toobtain Fourier series coefficients of the data; second, Hankeltransforms of the Fourier series coefficients of the data acquired inthe step of acquiring data are calculated to obtain Fourier seriescoefficients of an image of the object; and finally a Fourier transformis performed on the Fourier series coefficients of the image of theobject to obtain an image of the object in polar coordinates.

In another implementation, the obtained image of the object in polarcoordinates can be re-gridded to Cartesian coordinates for display. There-gridding can be carried out by a re-gridding method, such asinterpolation.

In yet another implementation, the Hankel transforms can be calculatedwith orders ranging from a minimum order n_(min) to a maximum ordern_(max), which enable a selective focusing feature.

In yet another implementation, the data is acquired using athree-dimensional data acquisition sequence, such as the stack-of-starssequence.

In yet another general aspect of the present application, a dataprocessing system for fast magnetic resonance imaging of an object, thesystem comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having executableinstructions encoded thereon, such that upon execution by the processor,the processor performs operations of acquiring data in a spatialfrequency domain of the object with polar sampling patterns; andreconstructing an image of the object through a polar Fourier transformof the data acquired in the step of acquiring data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing outand distinctly claiming the subject matter that is regarded as formingthe present application, it is believed that the application will bebetter understood from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying DRAWINGS, where like reference numerals designatelike structural and other elements, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary and non-limiting method for tagged magneticresonance imaging, according to the teachings of the presentapplication.

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplar reconstructed radially-tagged image of amyocardium of a healthy volunteer.

FIG. 2B illustrates the corresponding spatial frequency domain (k-space)data of the radially-tagged myocardium of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplar reconstructed circularly-tagged image ofa myocardium of a healthy volunteer.

FIG. 2D illustrates the corresponding spatial frequency domain (k-space)data of the circularly-tagged myocardium of FIG. 2C.

FIG. 2E illustrates an exemplar stack-of-stars trajectory.

FIG. 3 is an exemplar and non-limiting polar Fourier transformalgorithm, according to one implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates the corresponding image of the spatial frequencydomain data of FIG. 2B after performing a one dimensional fast Fouriertransform in the azimuthal direction.

FIG. 5 illustrates the corresponding image of the spatial frequencydomain data of FIG. 2D after performing a one dimensional fast Fouriertransform in the azimuthal direction.

FIG. 6 illustrates the reconstructed images from the phantom study, asdescribed in more detail in connection with example 1.

FIG. 7 illustrates the phantom images, which are reconstructed by thepolar Fourier transform method, as described in more detail inconnection with example 1.

FIG. 8 illustrates the human heart (myocardium) images, which arereconstructed by the full-rank polar Fourier transform method, asdescribed in more detail in connection with example 2.

FIG. 9 illustrates the signal intensity profile for a human heart(myocardium) image, which is reconstructed by the full-rank polarFourier transform method, as described in more detail in connection withexample 2.

FIG. 10 illustrates the human heart (myocardium) images, which arereconstructed by the low-rank polar Fourier transform method, asdescribed in more detail in connection with example 2.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a data processing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth by way of examples in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe relevant teachings. However, it should be apparent that the presentteachings may be practiced without such details. In other instances,well known methods, procedures, components, and/or circuitry have beendescribed at a relatively high-level, without detail, in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring aspects of the present teachings.

For purposes of explanation, specific nomenclature is set forth toprovide a thorough understanding of the present application. However, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific detailsare not required to practice the application. Descriptions of specificapplications are provided only as representative examples. Variousmodifications to the preferred implementations will be readily apparentto one skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein maybe applied to other implementations and applications without departingfrom the scope of the application. The present application is notintended to be limited to the implementations shown, but is to beaccorded the widest possible scope consistent with the principles andfeatures disclosed herein.

Described in this application is a method for tagged magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI), and more particularly, a method for fully polar taggedMRI. As used herein, “tagged magnetic resonance imaging” refers to anMRI technique, in which the object to be scanned is tagged. The act oftagging produces a variable brightness pattern in subsequent images ofthe object, and the deformation of the aforementioned pattern over time,clearly indicates the deformation of the object. This could be a usefulmagnetic resonance modality for the assessment and quantification of,for example, the local myocardial function in a healthy and in adiseased state.

Generally, tagged magnetic resonance imaging of an object, has threemain steps, namely, preparation, in which the object to be scanned istagged; imaging, in which the data in a spatial frequency domain of thetagged object is acquired; and reconstruction of an image of the object,based on the data acquired in the imaging step. The coherency betweenthese stages plays an important role in the efficiency of the wholetagged magnetic resonance imaging.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary and non-limiting method 100 for tagged MRIaccording to the teachings of the present application. The method 100introduced in this application allows for a coherent and efficientapproach for performing the entire process of tagged MRI in the polarcoordinate system. The method 100 includes the steps of tagging anobject with tagging patterns that fit the polar coordinate system (step101); acquiring data in a spatial frequency domain of the tagged objectwith a polar sampling pattern (step 102); and reconstructing an image ofthe object through a polar Fourier transform of the data acquired in thestep of acquiring the data (step 103). This fully polar tagged MRImethod 100 leads to acceleration in both imaging (step 102) andreconstruction (step 103), and eliminates or reduces the incoherencybetween the preparation (step 101), the acquisition (step 102) andreconstruction (step 103) steps of the tagged MRI method 100. Moreover,the method 100 allows for reconstructing the image of the object(according to step 103) using under-sampled spatial frequency domain(k-space) data (acquired according to step 102), which leads toaccelerated imaging and reconstruction.

According to the first step (step 101) of the method 100, as describedin this application, the object to be scanned is tagged with polartagging pattern, which, for example, includes radial and circulartagging patterns. Tagging the object through the use of tag-lines is animportant tool in the determination of strain in an object of interest,for example, a human heart. Since the structure and motion of an object,such as the heart (left ventricle), especially in the often clinicallyused short axis view, adapts best to the polar coordinate system,expressing myocardial strain in the radial and circumferentialdirections is preferred in clinical practice. It is, therefore,advantageous if the tagging patterns also fit the polar coordinates tofacilitate the analysis and also provide a more intuitive description ofthe myocardial deformation. Hence, for tagging the object (step 101),sufficiently dense polar tag-lines can be generated on the myocardium.The aforementioned polar tag-lines can be generated, for example, with aradial tagging pattern, or a circular tagging pattern.

Referring to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, these figures illustrate generatedtag-lines on a myocardium with a radial tagging pattern 200, where thetag-lines 201 are visible as dark spokes; and the corresponding spatialfrequency domain data (k-space data) 202, in which, the energy oftag-lines is concentrated in a doughnut-shaped region 203.

Referring to FIG. 2C and FIG. 2D, these figures illustrate the generatedtags on the myocardium with a circular tagging pattern 204, where thecircular tags 205 are visible as dark circles; and the correspondingspatial frequency domain data (k-space data) 206, in which, the energyof tag-lines is concentrated in an annular sub-region 207.

In general, tag-lines, either radial 201 or circular 205, can begenerated using any suitable tagging technique, a non-limiting exampleof which, includes modulated magnetization.

According to the second step (step 102) of the method 100, as describedin this application, the data in a spatial frequency domain of theobject, which is tagged according to the first step (step 101) isacquired with a polar sampling pattern. The polar sampling pattern maybe, for example, a radial sampling pattern, in which the data in thespatial frequency domain of the object are acquired along radialtrajectories; or a circular sampling pattern, in which the data in thespatial frequency domain of the object are acquired along circulartrajectories.

The balance between sampling patterns for acquisition of k-space dataand how the energy of tag-lines spreads out in k-space would have asignificant impact on the efficiency of the acquisition step (step 102)in the tagged MRI method 100. Since one of the most concerning issues inthe strain imaging is the scan time, especially in the evaluation of thecardiac function under stress test, selection of a fast acquisitionscheme is of great importance. Therefore, polar sampling patterns are ofgreat advantage, due to their consistency with the distribution of theradial tagging information 202 and circular tagging information 206 ink-space. For example, a radial sampling pattern can be used to acquirethe spatial frequency data 202 and 206, or a circular sampling patterncan be used to acquire the spatial frequency data 202 and 206. Anyspatial frequency sampling pattern can follow the tagging of the object(step 101). A fast sampling makes possible multiphase, multilayerimaging before tag-lines 201 and 205 fade.

It should be understood by a person skilled in the art that in order tomake a true three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis of the heart, a 3Dtagging method in combination with a 3D acquisition method can be used.For example, one interesting data acquisition sequence or trajectory isthe known “stack-of-stars” sequence or trajectory, which has beenderived from a conventional 3D gradient-echo (GRE) sequence.

Referring to FIG. 2E, in the stack-of-stars sequence, in the “slice”direction 208, standard Cartesian phase encoding is performed, while inthe “readout” and “phase” plane (for each slice 211), data are acquiredalong radial spokes 209, which results in cylindrical k-space coverage210. This k-space acquisition, which is referred to as a “3D dataacquisition trajectory” hereinafter, provides motion robustness andtherefore, it may be, most suitable to the dynamic imaging as cardiactagging methods. The angle of the radial spokes can be ordered using anequidistant scheme or the golden-angle scheme.

Once the spatial frequency information 202 and 206 is available, thenext step is to reconstruct an image of the object 200 and 204 based onthe acquired k-space data.

According to the third step (step 103) of the method 100, as describedin this application, an image of the tagged object is reconstructedthrough performing a polar Fourier transform of the data acquired in thesecond step (step 102).

The efficiency of the polar tagging and polar data acquisition dependson the employment of a fast and coherent image reconstruction technique.In MRI, the relationship between the spatial frequency data (k-spacedata) and the final image is a Fourier transform. When the dataacquisition is carried out using a Cartesian sampling pattern, a 2D fastFourier transform (FFT) will efficiently reconstruct the image. Forreconstruction of non-Cartesian MRI data, however, this fast algorithmis not available. For radially-encoded MRI data, which is the dataacquired with a radial sampling pattern, the image is usuallyreconstructed, using analytical methods, such as filtered backprojection or performing inverse Fourier transform after re-gridding thedata. The aforementioned methods introduce severe artifacts, when thenumber of radial spokes reduces below the well-known Nyquist samplingminimum requirement.

The method 100, which is introduced in the present application, requiresa polar Fourier transform (hereinafter “PFT”) of the radially andcircularly sampled data. For an efficient reconstruction, the Fouriertransform in the polar coordinate system, or as is referred to herein,the polar Fourier transform (PFT) can, for example, be calculated usinga Hankel-transform-based reconstruction technique. The method 100 israther fast and well consistent with the radially-tagged andcircularly-tagged data, and provides images with improved quality, evenwhen the data in the spatial frequency domain are under-sampled in thesecond step (step 102) for the sake of accelerating the imaging process.

In the following paragraphs, an exemplar and non-limiting algorithm isdescribed for calculating the polar Fourier transform of the acquiredk-space data in order to reconstruct the image of the object accordingto step three (step 103) of the method 100.

In MRI, the relationship between the spatial frequency data (k-spacedata) and the final image is a Fourier transform. Let F(ρ,φ) denote thetwo-dimensional Fourier transform of an arbitrary function ƒ(r, θ);therefore, the inverse Fourier transform (IFT) in polar coordinates canbe expressed as the following equation, which is designated by number(1), and referred to hereinafter as equation 1:

$\begin{matrix}{{f\left( {r,\theta} \right)} = {\frac{1}{2\pi}{\int_{- \pi}^{\pi}{\int_{0}^{\infty}{{F\left( {\rho,\varphi} \right)}{\mathbb{e}}^{{\mathbb{i}2\pi}\; r\;\rho\;{\cos{({\theta - \varphi})}}}\rho\ {\mathbb{d}\rho}\ {\mathbb{d}\varphi}}}}}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

In equation 1 hereinabove, r and θ are the polar parameters of thespatial domain, and ρ and φ represent polar variables in the spatialfrequency domain. Since F(ρ,φ) is a periodic function of φ, it can beexpanded into a Fourier series as in the following equation, which isdesignated by number (2), and referred to hereinafter as equation 2:

$\begin{matrix}{{F\left( {\rho,\varphi} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{n = {- \infty}}^{\infty}\;{{F_{n}(\rho)}{\mathbb{e}}^{{\mathbb{i}}\; n\;\varphi}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

In equation 2 hereinabove, F_(n)(ρ) are Fourier-series coefficients ofF(ρ,φ) that can be calculated through a one-dimensional fast Fouriertransform (1D-FFT). Substituting equation 2 in equation 1, and using theintegral definition of the n^(th) order Bessel function, which is:

$\begin{matrix}{{J_{n}(x)} = {\frac{1}{2\pi}{\int_{- \pi}^{\pi}{{\mathbb{e}}^{{\mathbb{i}}{({{{xsin}\;\beta} - {n\;\beta}})}}\ {\mathbb{d}\beta}}}}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

The following equation, is obtained, which is referred to as equation 4,hereinafter:

$\begin{matrix}{{f\left( {r,\theta} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{n = {- \infty}}^{\infty}\;{i^{n}{{\mathbb{e}}^{{\mathbb{i}}\; n\;\theta}\left( {\int_{0}^{\infty}{\rho\;{F_{n}(\rho)}{J_{n}\left( {2{\pi\rho}\; r} \right)}\ {\mathbb{d}\rho}}} \right)}}}} & (4)\end{matrix}$

Now we have a set of functions as F_(n)(ρ), which are independent ofangular variable φ and therefore, we may apply a Bessel-based transformon each of them similar to what we have for an inherently symmetricfunction. The integral in equation 4, represents the Hankel transformsof order n of the function F_(n)(ρ). Therefore, the Fourier transform ofƒ (r, θ) is expressed as a summation over a set of integer-order Hankeltransforms. It can be inferred from Equation 4 that each of these Hankeltransforms indicates a Fourier-series coefficient of the periodicfunction ƒ(r, θ) as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{f\left( {r,\theta} \right)} = {\sum\limits_{n = {- \infty}}^{\infty}\;{{f_{n}(r)}{\mathbb{e}}^{{\mathbb{i}}\; n\;\theta}}}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

In equation 5 hereinabove, ƒ_(n)(r) is given by the following equation,which is referred to as equation 6:ƒ_(n)(r)=i ^(n)∫₀ ^(∞) ρF _(n)(ρ)J _(n)(2πρr)dρ=i ^(n) H _(n) {F_(n)(ρ)}  (6)

Thus, it follows that:ƒ(r,θ)=IFFT[ƒ_(n)(r)]=IFFT[i ^(n) H _(n) {F _(n)(ρ)}]=IFFT[i ^(n) H_(n){FFT(F(ρ,φ))}]  (7)

ƒ(r,θ) is the desired image, which is reconstructed using theabove-described algorithm from its polar Fourier samples F(ρ,φ). Thedesired image is represented in the polar coordinate system.

Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplar PFT algorithm 300 is shown in thisfigure. According to this algorithm 300: first, a Fourier transform isperformed on F(ρ,φ) in the azimuthal direction to obtain Fourier seriescoefficients F_(n)(ρ) (step 301); second, the Hankel transform ofF_(n)(ρ) is calculated to obtain Fourier series coefficientsƒ_(n)(r)(step 302); and finally, Fourier transform is performed onƒ_(n)(r) to obtain ƒ(r,θ) (step 302), which is the desired image of theobject in polar coordinates.

For implementation of the algorithm 300, the k-space raw data acquiredthrough, for example, a radial trajectory should be first reshaped intoa N_(φ)×N_(φ), matrix with N_(ρ) and N_(φ), representing the totalnumber of samples in the radial and azimuthal directions, respectively.The n^(th)-order Bessel functions (J_(n)), which are required for theestimation of discrete Hankel transforms, can be pre-calculated andincorporated as a look-up table to substantially expedite thecomputations. It should be noted that the desired image ƒ (r,θ), whichis reconstructed through PFT from its polar Fourier space samples F(ρ,φ)is also represented in the polar domain. Therefore, the PFT method isfully polar-based and requires no interpolation of data points onto theCartesian grid before the final image is reconstructed, which results inhigher accuracy and less estimation errors compared to the re-griddingapproach.

Additional acceleration in computations of the algorithm 300 is achievedfrom a unique feature of radial tagging revealed after 1D-FFT in theazimuthal direction. Since in radial tagging, the original image ismodulated with a fixed frequency in the circumferential direction,performing 1D-FFT in that direction results in a pair of highlightedlines in the consequent domain.

FIG. 4 illustrates the radial tagging energy after applying the first 1DFT in the azimuthal direction. The tagging energy concentrates inlow-order Fourier coefficients around the tagging spatial frequency in aregion enclosed in two white boxes 401 and 402. These highlighted lines,which are enclosed by two white boxes 401 and 402, represent thespecific frequency of tag-lines, which contain the tagging informationin the image. In post-processing analysis of tagged images, onlytag-line information is required for extracting the myocardialdeformation. As described in radial tagging, this information is spreadover a donut-shaped region in k-space, which is then concentrated inlow-order Fourier-series coefficients F_(n)(ρ) with n close to thenumber of radial tag-lines in a full cycle. Therefore, by performingonly low-order Hankel transforms around the tagging spatial frequency,the required information for recovery of taglines in the image will becaptured and consequently high-order Hankel transforms can be neglectedwithout losing valuable data. Thus, further acceleration in addition tothe intrinsic speed of the PFT method is achievable. It should be notedthat this specific property, demonstrated in the PFT method, isexclusive for radial tagging.

It should be understood that based on the details, which should berecovered in the final reconstructed image, the Hankel transforms can becalculated with orders ranging from a minimum order n_(min) to a maximumorder n_(max), this feature of the algorithm 300 is called “selectivefocusing”.

Referring to FIG. 2D and FIG. 5, since the tagging energy in circulartagging patterns lies on an annular sub-region 207 in k-space, only alimited number of k-space circles would contribute to the reconstructionof the tag-line information. Therefore, only these specific circlesalong with the central circles containing the overall contrast andenergy of the image can be used in the calculation of the final image.The circular tagging energy after applying the first 1D FT in theazimuthal direction, concentrates in low-order Fourier coefficientsaround the tagging spatial frequency in a region, which is enclosed in awhite box 503. Therefore, by performing only low-order Hankel transformsaround the tagging spatial frequency, the required information forrecovery of taglines in the image will be captured and consequentlyhigh-order Hankel transforms can be neglected without losing valuabledata.

Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the middle step in theimplementation of the PFT algorithm 300 is applying discrete Hankeltransforms to obtain the Fourier coefficients of the final image (step302). Required Bessel functions for the implementation of these Hankeltransforms can be pre-calculated and saved as a look-up matrix in orderto improve the computational speed. The number of orders which theHankel transform needs to be calculated, basically depends on the numberof radial spokes. For radial tagging, however, as the first FTconcentrates taglines energy in specific Fourier-series coefficientsaround the spatial frequency of taglines (around the region enclosed intwo white boxes 401 and 402), the Hankel transform can be calculatedonly for these specific orders. That is, the higher and/or lower orderscan be discarded without imposing any significant loss of taglineinformation. It is recommended, however, not to drop the low orders ifwe want to have good resolution in the central part of the final image.This characteristic can be exploited to accelerate both acquisition andreconstruction of radial tagging. As used herein, a “full-rank PFTmethod” implies that discrete Hankel transform has been calculated up tothe highest order, which is determined by the number of Fourier-seriescoefficients in the azimuthal direction; and a “low-rank PFT method”refers to the application of only low-order Hankel transforms in thereconstruction step.

For circular tagging, as the tagging spatial frequency is almost zero inthe circumferential direction, applying 1D-FFT in that direction resultsin a highlighted region around the zeroth-order Fourier coefficient (theregion is enclosed in a white box 503). Therefore, higher accelerationfactors can be achieved for circular tagging. Also, more flexiblepatterns can be used for the calculation of the Bessel Functions.

Furthermore, each circle in the k-space can be reconstructed selectivelyand independently of other circles in order to examine its effects onthe final reconstructed image. This property of the PFT reconstructioncan also help in the acceleration of the post-processing of the polartagged images.

Referring to FIG. 2E, for the tagged data, which is acquired by athree-dimensional acquisition sequence, such as the “stack-of-stars”sequence, since the sample locations along rotated spokes do not fall onan equidistant grid, it is not possible to use conventional fast Fouriertransform (FFT)-based image reconstruction for radially sampled data.Therefore, after applying 1D-FFT in “slice” direction 208 to remove theFourier encoding in this direction, polar Fourier transform (PFT) can beapplied to each slice 211, separately, and a set of 2D images of theobject for each slice 211 can be reconstructed utilizing the method ofthe instant application.

Example 1 Phantom Study

In this example, a 2D segmented k-space radial pulse sequence is usedfor acquisition of phantom data. A 32 channel Siemens 1.5 T TIM Avantoscanner (hereinafter “the scanner”) with an eight-channel receiver coilis used for obtaining raw data. Phantom images are acquired by layingdown a radial tag pattern including 11 tag-lines in a semi-circle.Magnetic resonance parameters for all collected data-sets are asfollows: field of view (FOV) is 290 mm; slice thickness is equal to 6mm; the temporal resolution is 43.76 milliseconds; the repetition time(TR) is 5.47 milliseconds and echo time (TE) is 2.79 milliseconds; flipangle is 15°; pixel bandwidth equals 300 Hz/pixel; the image matrix sizeis 150×150.

For any artifact-free reconstruction, the Nyquist sampling requirementshould be satisfied and the violation of this sampling requirement,results in streaking artifacts. For an image matrix size of n×n, theNyquist condition is reduced to N_(p)=πn/2, where N_(p) is the number ofrequired projections (spokes). Applying this criterion for the imagematrix size of 150×150, the optimal number of projections isapproximately 236 spokes. First, tagged phantom data were acquired withas high as 200 radial spokes in an imaging process of 21 seconds toconfirm the accuracy and performance of the reconstruction algorithm ofthe present application. The same phantom data were then sampled with areduced number of projections or spokes of 96, 72, 48, 32 and 24. Forall radial acquisitions, raw data were exported from the scanner, withno modification, and reconstructed through the PFT method of the presentapplication. Each coil data was reconstructed individually and thencombined using the standard sum of squares approach to obtain the finaldesired image. For visualization purposes, the resulting images weretaken into the Cartesian coordinate system for display.

The results were compared with re-gridding reconstructions, which is acommon method carried out by the magnetic resonance scanner. Imagequality metrics including the normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE);cross-correlation coefficient (CC), which is a measure of similarity;tagging contrast (C_(tag)); and tag contrast-to-noise ratio (Tag CNR)were measured. The tagging contrast (C_(tag)) was quantified as thedifference between the mean signal intensity of tagged and non-taggedareas within a specified region-of-interest (ROI). Tag CNR was alsoassessed as the C_(tag) divided by the standard deviation (SD) of thenoise in the background region outside the ROI. For the phantom studies,the tagged object was chosen as the ROI and the noise was measured inthe background region outside the object.

FIG. 6 illustrates the reconstructed images from the phantom studyacquired with 200 radial spokes. This figure shows the imagereconstructed by the re-gridding method 600; the image reconstructed bythe full-rank PFT method 601, in which high-order Hankel transforms areutilized up to the 200^(th) order; and the image reconstructed by thelow-rank PFT method 602, in which only the first 22 orders of the Hankeltransforms are computed. As can be visually indicated, the quality ofthe image reconstructed by the full-rank PFT 601 and the imagereconstructed by the low-rank PFT 602 is comparable to the imagereconstructed by the re-gridding method 600.

Table 1 reports the image quality metrics, which are used to verify theaccuracy and precision of the PFT algorithm of the present application.As 200 radial spokes is slightly below the Nyquist sampling requirement,the re-gridding reconstruction demonstrates no streaking artifacts andtherefore, it may serve as a valid reference for the comparisons. Theimage reconstructed by the re-gridding technique is referred to as thereference image hereinafter. The small NRMSE values of 0.0202 for theimage reconstructed by full-rank PFT and 0.0324 for the imagereconstructed by the low-rank PFT indicate that the image can bereconstructed by the full-rank PFT and the low-rank PFT methods withsmall error in comparison with the reference image. CC values of 0.9972for the image reconstructed by the full-rank PFT and 0.9868 for theimage reconstructed by the low-rank PFT, indicate high similarity amongthe images obtained via PFT reconstructions and the reference image. Asis reported in Table 1, the images which are reconstructed by thefull-rank PFT and the low-rank PFT exhibit relatively higher taggingcontrast and tag CNR, compared to the image which is reconstructed bythe re-gridding technique. In addition, the low-rank PFT method cansuccessfully reconstruct images within an acceptable error range. Thesmall error in the image reconstruction by the low-rank PFT method ismostly related to the details at points farthest from the center of theimage, rather than the details of the taglines, therefore, the qualityof the image around the center, which is the area of interest is intact.The image reconstruction step, which is carried out utilizing thelow-rank PFT method is 11 fold faster than the image reconstruction viathe full-rank PFT, considering the direct calculation of Besselfunctions.

TABLE 1 Image reconstructed by NRMSE CC C_(tag) Tag CNR Re-gridding(reference) — — 69.1007 4.9067 Full-rank PFT 0.0202 0.9972 70.01355.3861 Low-rank PFT 0.0324 0.9868 68.9272 5.2488

FIG. 7 illustrates the phantom images 700, which are reconstructed bythe PFT method performed on the data sampled with 96 spokes 701, 72spokes 702, 48 spokes 703, 32 spokes 704, and 24 spokes 705; and thephantom images 700, which are reconstructed by the re-gridding techniqueperformed on the data sampled with 96 spokes 711, 72 spokes 712, 48spokes 713, 32 spokes 714, and 24 spokes 715. The correspondingacquisition times ranged from 2.5 seconds for the data acquired with 24spokes to 10 seconds for the data acquired with 96 spokes. As can beseen in this figure, the images reconstructed by the re-griddingtechnique 711, 712, 713, 714, and 715, suffer from severe streakingartifacts as the under-sampling factor increases, such that the taggingstructures are not properly recovered for the data sampled with lowernumbers of radial spokes. On the contrary, in the images, which arereconstructed by the PFT method of this application, only some blurringeffects in the peripheral areas of heavily under-sampled images, withthe number of spokes as few as 32 become visible. This blurring,however, has no considerable impact on the quality of taglines, which isthe feature of interest in the tagged magnetic resonance imaging.

Example 2 In-Vivo Study

In this example, a 2D segmented k-space radial pulse sequence is usedfor acquisition of human heart (myocardium) data. A 32 channel Siemens1.5T TIM Avanto scanner with a five array receiver coil is used forobtaining raw data. For the in-vivo study, the data were sampled with areduced number of projections of 88, 64, 40 radial spokes. Magneticresonance parameters for all collected data-sets are as follows: fieldof view (FOV) is 290 mm; slice thickness is equal to 6 mm; repetitiontime (TR) is 5.76 milliseconds and echo time (TE) is 2.79 milliseconds;flip angle is 15°; pixel bandwidth equals 300 Hz/pixel; the image matrixsize is 150×150.

For all radial acquisitions, raw data were exported from the scanner,with no modification, and reconstructed through the PFT method of thepresent application. Each coil data was reconstructed individually andthen combined using the standard sum of squares approach to obtain thefinal desired image. For visualization purposes, the resulting imageswere taken into the Cartesian coordinate system for display.

The results were compared with re-gridding reconstructions by themagnetic resonance scanner. Image quality metrics including thenormalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE); cross-correlation coefficient(CC), which is a measure of similarity; tagging contrast (C_(tag)); andtag contrast-to-noise ratio (Tag CNR) were measured. The taggingcontrast (C_(tag)) was quantified as the difference between the meansignal intensity of tagged and non-tagged areas within a specifiedregion-of-interest (ROI). Tag CNR was also assessed as the C_(tag)divided by the standard deviation (SD) of the noise in the backgroundregion outside the ROI.

FIG. 8 illustrates human heart (myocardium) images 800, which arereconstructed by the full-rank PFT method, which is performed on thedata sampled with 88 spokes 801, 64 spokes 802, 40 spokes 803 and thecorresponding images 800, which are reconstructed by the re-griddingtechnique, which is performed on the data sampled with 88 spokes 811, 64spokes 812, 40 spokes 813. In all human heart (myocardium) images 800,the selected ROI was defined as the tagged myocardium area that falls inthe 80×80 mm² window at the center of the image, which is specified by awhite square 820. The noise was determined in the air outside the body.Further, the spatial resolution of the images has been evaluated by thesharpness of taglines on a circle 821 placed on the myocardial wall thatshows how rapid the variations in the signal intensity profile takeplace, and therefore indicates the maximum frequency content of theimage.

FIG. 9 illustrates the signal intensity profile for the human heart(myocardium) image reconstructed by the full-rank PFT method 901 and forthe human heart (myocardium) image reconstructed by the re-griddingtechnique 902. The signal intensity profile is plotted for a specificarea in the reconstructed image as designated by the circle 821 locatedin the tagged myocardium. The aforementioned signal intensity profilecan be used as an indicator of the sharpness of the tag-lines and it canbe used to measure the image quality. Wherever frequency content ishigher, the sharpness of profile is higher. The re-gridding techniqueand the full-rank PFT method are performed on the data sampled with 88spokes, which is acquired during a 12 s breath-hold period. The averageslope of the transition between the signal intensity in tagged andnon-tagged areas per pixel is 16.8608 for the images reconstructed bythe full-rank PFT and 9.0520 for those reconstructed by the re-griddingimages, which demonstrates improvements in terms of spatial resolutionin the images reconstructed by the full-rank PFT method.

Referring to FIG. 8, the re-gridding reconstruction caused some slightartifacts in the images and the resulting images 811, 812, and 813 aremuch noisier when compared to the images reconstructed by the full-rankPFT method 801, 802, and 803. An effective increase of 70% in taggingcontrast and 250% in contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was achieved by thefull-rank PFT reconstruction compared to the re-gridding technique. Theaverage runtime of the algorithm for each cardiac frame was 117.74 swith the direct computation of Bessel functions and 0.51 s when therequired Bessel functions were pre-calculated.

Table 2 reports the image quality metrics, which are used to verify theaccuracy and precision of the PFT algorithm of the present application.Each image is compared to its corresponding dataset obtained with 88radial spokes. The comparison takes place on an 80×80 mm² window in thetagged region of interest 820. The tagging contrast (C_(tag)) iscalculated only for myocardium in this region 820.

TABLE 2 Images Number of radial reconstructed by spokes NRMSE C_(tag)Tag CNR PFT 64 0.0166 55.3536 6.3487 40 0.0183 53.1254 4.1850Re-gridding 64 0.0493 22.6692 1.2208 40 0.0671 20.6184 0.8611

Images from the re-gridding and PFT approaches were compared with theircorresponding reconstructions from 88 spokes. Again, the high robustnessof the PFT method is established and a high tagging contrast and tag CNRare observed for all PFT images. The average reconstruction time foreach frame was 0.36 s for images reconstructed from 64 radial spokes;and 0.28 s for images reconstructed from 40 radial spokes.

FIG. 10 illustrates images of human heart (myocardium), which arereconstructed by the low-rank PFT method of the present applicationperformed on the data acquired with 88 radial spokes 111, 64 radialspokes 112, and 40 radial spokes 113. It is easily recognizable that inspite of the loss of some structural details, the overall shape andquality of the taglines within the regions of interest 131, 132, and 133have been retained. For the image reconstructed by performing thelow-rank PFT on the data acquired with 88 spokes, the normalized RSME is0.0165; for the image reconstructed by performing the low-rank PFT onthe data acquired with 64 spokes, the normalized RSME is 0.0204; and forthe image reconstructed by performing the low-rank PFT on the dataacquired with 40 spokes, the normalized RSME is 0.0258. Thereconstructed image from 88 spokes by the Full-rank PFT was consideredas the reference. Again the comparisons took place on the area ofinterest specified by white squares 131, 132, and 133, where the taggedmyocardium is located, since we are interested in mapping taglineswithin an acceptable range of errors. Enlarged images of the taggedmyocardium in the area of interest are illustrated in FIG. 10 for theimage reconstructed by the low-rank PFT performed on the data acquiredwith 88 radial spokes 121, 64 radial spokes 122, and 40 radial spokes123. The low-rank PFT method also yields an appreciable improvement inthe Tag CNR. The Tag CNR value for the image reconstructed by thelow-rank PFT performed on the data acquired with 88 radial spokes is7.7305; the Tag CNR value for the image reconstructed by the low-rankPFT performed on the data acquired with 64 radial spokes is 6.5909; andthe tag CNR value for the image reconstructed by the low-rank PFTperformed on the data acquired with 40 radial spokes is 5.0769. TheLow-rank PFT implementation took 18.2 s with direct calculation ofrequired Bessel functions.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram depicting the components of a data processingsystem for carrying out the method, which is introduced in the presentdisclosure. The data processing system 160 includes an input 161 forreceiving data regarding the images. The input 161 may include multiple“ports.” Typically, the input 161 is received from an MRI scanner. Anoutput 162 provides the reconstructed image to a user or to othersystems, devices, or other programs for use therein. The input 161 andthe output 162 are both coupled with a processor 163, which may be ageneral-purpose computer processor or a specialized processor designedspecifically for use with the data processing system of this disclosure.The processor 163 is coupled with a memory 164 to permit storage of dataand software that are to be manipulated by commands to the processor163. The memory 164 has executable instructions encoded thereon, suchthat upon execution by the processor 163, the processor 163 performssteps of acquiring the data in a spatial frequency domain of the objectwith polar sampling patterns; and reconstructing an image of the object,through a polar Fourier transform of the acquired data.

While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the bestmode and/or other examples, it is understood that various modificationsmay be made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may beimplemented in various forms and examples, and that the teachings may beapplied in numerous applications, only some of which have been describedherein. It is intended by the following claims to claim any and allapplications, modifications and variations that fall within the truescope of the present teachings.

Unless otherwise stated, all measurements, values, ratings, positions,magnitudes, sizes, and other specifications that are set forth in thisspecification, including in the claims that follow, are approximate, notexact. They are intended to have a reasonable range that is consistentwith the functions to which they relate and with what is customary inthe art to which they pertain.

The scope of protection is limited solely by the claims that now follow.That scope is intended and should be interpreted to be as broad as isconsistent with the ordinary meaning of the language that is used in theclaims when interpreted in light of this specification and theprosecution history that follows and to encompass all structural andfunctional equivalents. Notwithstanding, none of the claims are intendedto embrace subject matter that fails to satisfy the requirement ofSections 101, 102, or 105 of the Patent Act, nor should they beinterpreted in such a way. Any unintended embracement of such subjectmatter is hereby disclaimed.

Except as stated immediately above, nothing that has been stated orillustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedicationof any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, orequivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is or is not recitedin the claims.

It will be understood that the terms and expressions used herein havethe ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions withrespect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and studyexcept where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.Relational terms such as first and second and the like may be usedsolely to distinguish one entity or action from another withoutnecessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or orderbetween such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,”or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusiveinclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus thatcomprises a list of elements does not include only those elements butmay include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to suchprocess, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “a” or“an” does not, without further constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises the element.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various implementations for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to beinterpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed implementationsrequire more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in lessthan all features of a single disclosed implementation. Thus thefollowing claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description,with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subjectmatter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for tagged magnetic resonance imaging,the method comprising steps of: tagging an object with polar taggingpatterns; acquiring via a processor data in a spatial frequency domainof the tagged object with a polar sampling pattern; and reconstructingvia the processor an image of the tagged object, wherein, in thereconstructing step the image is reconstructed through a polar Fouriertransform of the data acquired in the acquiring step.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein tagging the object with polar taggingpatterns include tagging the object with radial tagging patterns.
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein tagging the object with polartagging patterns include tagging the object with circular taggingpatterns.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the polar samplingpattern includes a radial sampling pattern.
 5. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the polar sampling pattern includes a circular samplingpattern.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the object includesa heart.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein acquiring the dataincludes acquiring the data using a three-dimensional data acquisitionsequence.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein thethree-dimensional data acquisition sequence includes a stack-of-starssequence.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein reconstructing theimage of the object includes reconstructing the image of the objectthrough steps of: performing Fourier transform on the data acquired inthe acquiring step, in the azimuth direction to obtain Fourier seriescoefficients of the data acquired in the acquiring step; calculatingHankel transforms of the Fourier series coefficients of the dataacquired in the acquiring step to obtain Fourier series coefficients ofan image of the object; and performing Fourier transform on the Fourierseries coefficients of the image of the object to obtain an image of theobject in polar coordinates.
 10. The method according to claim 9,further comprising re-gridding the image of the object in polarcoordinates to Cartesian coordinates for display.
 11. The methodaccording to claim 9, wherein calculating the Hankel transforms includescalculating Hankel transforms from a lower order of n_(min) up to ahigher order of n_(max).
 12. A method for magnetic resonance imaging,the method comprising steps of: acquiring via a processor data in aspatial frequency domain of the object with a polar sampling pattern;and reconstructing via the processor an image of the object through apolar Fourier transform of the data acquired in the step of acquiringdata.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the object includesa heart.
 14. The method according to claim 12, wherein acquiring thedata includes acquiring the data using a three-dimensional dataacquisition sequence.
 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein thethree-dimensional data acquisition sequence includes a stack-of-starssequence.
 16. The method according to claim 12, wherein reconstructingthe image of the object includes reconstructing the image of the objectthrough steps of: performing Fourier transform on the data acquired inthe acquiring step, in the azimuth direction to obtain Fourier seriescoefficients of the data acquired in the acquiring step; calculatingHankel transforms of the Fourier series coefficients of the dataacquired in the acquiring step to obtain Fourier series coefficients ofan image of the object; and performing Fourier transform on the Fourierseries coefficients of the image of the object to obtain an image of theobject in polar coordinates.
 17. The method according to claim 16,further comprising re-gridding the image of the object in polarcoordinates to Cartesian coordinates for display.
 18. The methodaccording to claim 16, wherein calculating the Hankel transformsincludes calculating Hankel transforms from a lower order of n_(min) upto a higher order of n_(max).
 19. A data processing system for fastmagnetic resonance imaging of an object, the system comprising: aprocessor; and a memory storing executable instructions for causing theprocessor to: acquire data in a spatial frequency domain of the objectwith polar sampling patterns; and reconstruct an image of the objectthrough a polar Fourier transform of the acquired data.
 20. The dataprocessing system according to claim 19, wherein the object isradially-tagged and polar sampling patterns includes radially samplingpatterns.
 21. The data processing system according to claim 19, whereinthe object is circularly tagged and polar sampling patterns includescircular sampling patterns.
 22. The data processing system according toclaim 19, wherein to reconstruct the image of the object, the memoryfurther stores executable instructions for causing the processor to:perform Fourier transform on the acquired data in the azimuth directionto obtain Fourier series coefficients of the acquired data; calculateHankel transforms of the Fourier series coefficients of the acquireddata to obtain Fourier series coefficients of an image of the object;and perform Fourier transform on the Fourier series coefficients of theimage of the object to obtain an image of the object in polarcoordinates.